Bullets do not burn skin: documentations

Once one knows the surface temperature of the projectile, the contact time with the skin, and the total amount of thermal energy carried by a bullet, it becomes clear that the heat transferred to the skin from a projectile is never enough to cause burn injury. This is common knowledge to all experts in the field. Below are some excerpts; the interested readers are invited to discover more details in the comprehensive books [DM], [SK] and the papers cited in them.

• pages 84-85 of [DM], where [MSW] and [L1] are cited:

  ``While bullets may easily attain a surface temperature of over $100\tccentigrade$ after leaving the muzzle, the contact time between the bullet and the skin is extremely short, insufficient to cause a burn.⁴⁶... That bullets do not burn skin has been know for some time.⁴⁷ In the late nineteenth century, Von Beck conducted experiments⁴⁸ to determine the amount of heat imparted to both lead bullets of large caliber and jacketed .30-caliber rifle bullets. ... The missiles were handled by the fingers and never possessed sufficient heat to burn the skin.''

• page 187 of [SK]:

  ``The temperature of a projectile, mentioned above, is not sufficient to cause burns at impact on the skin or during full penetration, as contact time is far bellow one millisecond.''

• page 3 of [MSW]:

  ``At a $V_0$⁴⁹ of $\sim 350$ m/s, the contact time with the skin amounts to only $0.1$ ms, which means that the relevant conductive thermal processes between the projectile and the skin cannot take place.''

Thermal effect of bullets on human skin has also been documented. Marty, Sigrist and Wyler conducted an experiment to measure the skin temperature at the entry wound with infrared thermography. They used human skin, including the subcutaneous tissue, excised from cadavers, heated to $\sim 30\tccentigrade$. Handgun shots were fired from a close range of 1 cm, the distance between the muzzle and the skin. With .25, .32, .38-special and 9-mm caliber cartridge⁵⁰skin temperature at impact never exceeded $56\tccentigrade$; see [MSW].